The IFLA Library pulls together IFLA's digital resources in a convenient single online location for ease of accessibility, search and browsing. It has been launched in summer 2013 with the IFLA World Library and Information Congress papers, and will continue to grow with the addition of existing and new resources. All submitted IFLA WLIC papers have been stored, indexed, and made freely available in our institutional repository, the IFLA Library.

To date, the library has collected over 1200 items–primarily conference papers–and logged over 550,000 individual downloads

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Carla Hayden discusses her decision to become a librarian and her plans as the new Librarian of Congress.

You are about to be sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress. How does that feel?

It’s such an honor to be nominated by the president and sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress. As a career librarian it’s really almost a dream come true. The confirmation process was really an eye-opener for me in so many ways, because I got to meet legislators that are committed to not only the nation’s history, but making information available. So many of the legislators were historians. There were a few that were actually musicians and that really had an interest in the Library of Congress. It was just a wonderful thing that made me very pleased that I was confirmed, and that I’ll have an opportunity to work with people who understand the importance of the Library of Congress.

When did you decide to become a librarian?

Librarianship really has been an adventure for me. To find out that there was a profession that was dedicated to making books, reading and knowledge available to people, that just seemed ideal. When I discovered that librarianship was a profession, I was coming out of undergraduate studies and thinking about what I was going to do next. I saw a colleague who had just graduated and they said, “They’re hiring people at the Chicago Public Library.” So I went and became a library associate. Within a week I was assigned to a small storefront library on the south side of Chicago, working with a young lady who was going to graduate school. She was on the floor, in jeans, having story time with children with autism. I thought, “Wait a minute. This is a different type of profession. You’re bringing things right to people.” I was hooked. Seeing what libraries could do in communities and how they could help people just opened my eyes.

So, at this point in my career, to be part of an institution like the Library of Congress is the ultimate in terms of what started with getting hooked on the profession back then.

How do you think your perspective will be reflected in the institution during your tenure?

As the first woman and the first African American to hold the position of Librarian of Congress, I think my perspective will be part of a continuum of the past librarians who came from different professions and backgrounds. There have been lawyers. There have been librarians. There have been publishers and authors and historians and scholars. So I think that I will be adding on to their different perspectives. While being a caretaker, I’ll be someone who is carrying the torch, too.

What do you see as the biggest challenges for the library?

The biggest opportunity for the Library is to make its wonderful treasures available to people in various formats using technology as a tool. So many collections are already digitized and available online. The opportunity to work with potential donors and those who are interested in seeing these treasures made available to everyone will be a wonderful adventure.

We also must make sure that while this is happening we’re taking care of the basic responsibilities of the Library as well—serving Congress, maintaining a robust Copyright Office that makes sure that creators and the users of content are served effectively and making sure that everyone has access to the Library’s collections.

What is your vision for the nation’s library under your stewardship?

My vision for the Library of Congress is to make people aware that it is part of their national heritage and that everyone can find something in the Library of Congress—or produced by the Library—that relates to them, their classroom curriculum or where they want to go in life.

“Librarians are,” as the t-shirt slogan says, “the original search engines.” Library of Congress staff members are considered to be the ultimate in terms of professional librarianship. So I’m really excited about getting their input and taking advantage of their experience as we work together to chart a course to the future.

What I hope to accomplish with the dedicated staff of the Library in the next 10 years of my appointment is to make more of the collections accessible in various formats. If we can make an increasing number of collections available digitally—especially those that are heavily used or tied in with school curriculums around the country— I think would be quite an accomplishment

The human environment is in a perpetual and constant state of flux. It is really in a restless state of flux and its impact on the human component is enormous. Thus, human beings, in response, are also in a restless state of adjusting to the dictates of the ever-changing environment. The environment is a powerful force that can annihilate the human species that refused to adjust accordingly. In the 21st century, human beings have come to accept the reality that they must adjust to the natural, social, economic and technological developments which, as noted initially are perpetually changing.

These environments include librarians’ immediate personal and home environments, their positions in organisations, and their citizenship of a country. Their environments now driven are driven and shaped by electronic networks and information technology (IT). They are also influenced by professional organisations, educators (Library users), senior practitioners and role players from other industries (for example, IT, publishing, software and the database industry) (Fourie, 2004).
The librarians are like a long flowing stream that runs across different geographical zones, serving different communities, tribes and countries. In this wise, the Librarians do not only serve different categories of information users but also in different contexts.

Monday, August 15, 2016

As you come together from across the globe and the United States around the importance of librarianship and information services, it is my pleasure to extend my warmest regards.

Our collective knowledge—borne out of centuries of inquiry and labor, and more interconnected and within reach today than ever before—represents the foundation of economic, cultural, and social progress made by generations of our peoples. This event reminds us of our duty, as an international community, to shape a future in which all people can fully and freely access and contribute to the great, living bank of accumulated information we share as citizens of the world. As long as we endeavor to protect and expand this access—from addressing the barriers of censorship and suppression to fighting the forces of exclusion—we can bring about a future in which every person is freer and in which all our societies are more vibrant and defined by greater possibility.

You have my very best for a wonderful time in Columbus and an outstanding event.

In support of this goal, IFLA has today published a booklet of examples and recommendations for policymakers demonstrating the contribution of libraries to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is also a supporting 2-page handout.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

The IFLA Knowledge Management Section brochure is now available in all seven languages of IFLA. We invite you to have a look and pass the appropriate copy along to colleagues and friends and fill free to distribute it on your social media and professional websites. We look forward to welcoming new members to IFLA and especially to our IFLA Knowledge Management Section.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Every minute, Google receives over4,000,000 search queries, and email users send 204,000,000 messages. To say that we are living in an age of information overload where we are bombarded by white noise is, quite frankly, an understatement - but I’m sure you’ve heard all that before. What we’re more concerned about here is the evolution of content curation to enable Librarians to rise above this sea of information.

Curation can be defined to be “the act of individuals chartered with the responsibility to find, contextualise, and organise information, providing a reliable context and architecture for the content they discover and organise”. To succeed, a Librarian must be able to effectively source worthwhile information on a range of topics through research, then filter through and verify this information to assess its significance and relevance to their organisation and end users,categorise the data into different topics and subject groups before presenting it in a digestible and easily understandable manner. This is no mean feat.

THE CONSERVATIVE NATURE OF THE AVERAGE LIBRARIAN: NATURE OR NURTURE? By Lawrence Ogbeni,

The unwieldy long caption of this write up was as a result of lack of a better choice of word to express some observations among librarians over the years.

Different professions have some peculiar traits common with the practitioners. For example, it is usually assumed that medical doctors are very detail and good listeners, lawyers are known to be good listeners and logical, accountants are usually very prudent and good managers of resources, architects are usually creative and likes experimenting with designs. A careful look at the above mentioned professionals would reveal the fact that irrespective of who and what they were by nature before undergoing the various professional trainings that qualified them as professionals in the various fields, the highlighted traits are easily noticeable in them. Although, there are some instances where some of these professionals hardly exhibit any of the associated mentioned traits, these are usually the exception rather than the norm.

Over time, it has been observed that librarians irrespective of the type of libraries they work, are known to display certain traits. Contemporary librarians are usually conservative and sometime regimented in the way and manner they carry out their official duties. The average librarian would always strive to maintain the status quo, with little or no attempt to tinker with the existing system or structure on ground.

There are very few librarians who are willing to venture out of their comfort zones by embracing or exploring new ways and manner of carrying out library operations. Majority of them are contented with the traditional library activities of cataloguing, classification, indexing, collection development, circulation, reference etc operations of the library year after year. This attitude of "as it was in the beginning, so shall it be" has stifled the energy, enthusiasm and creativity of the few dynamic ones who are willing to venture into the innovative world of librarianship.

There are new opportunities out there that usually appear initially as challenges due to the constant changes taking place among library clients, their needs and how to meet these varied needs. These changes ought to challenge the average librarians to be more proactive in the manner they discharge their responsibilities.

Librarians are supposed to be very visible and influential than they are presently because of the pivotal role and unique functions of the library in their parent institutions and organizations. On the contrary, what we observed most times is that librarians prefer to stay at the background and discharge their primary responsibilities from the comfort of their libraries. They seldom influence key decisions nor command attention of the management of their parent institutions or organizations through innovative solutions. For example, apart from the usual acquisition of books, periodicals and sometimes repairs of faulty or damaged library materials, there is hardly new solution or project initiated from the library and for the library that is treated with dispatch. Where new solutions or projects are given the attention they deserved especially in academic libraries, it is usually as a result of the fear of sanctions by some regulatory bodies (National Universities Commission) and for the accreditation of courses. These prevalent situations in most libraries is making several persons to ask, what could be responsible for this conservative nature known in local parlance as "sit down and look" attitude of the average librarian, is it nature or nurture? One would have thought that the exalted position of the office of the librarian and the unique role they play in their parent institutions and organizations, they could do more than they are doing presently in terms of visibility and influence by the introduction of innovative and impactful solutions.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Here is a handy visual for librarians featuring 12 of what we think are very good iPad apps they can use in their daily work. The visual is based on a post we shared here a few months ago. For more app suggestions for librarians, we recommend Nicole Hennig’s book : Apps for Librarians: Using the Best Mobile Technology to Educate, Create, and Engage which covers in more details over 100 Android and iPad apps. You can also check this infographic featuring 30 good web tools for librarians. Enjoy

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

The Global Commission on Internet Governance has just released One Internet, a wide-ranging and pragmatic vision of how all actors can contribute to a sustainable and democratic internet.

Based on two years of work and extensive expert contributions, the Commission identifies four foundational aspects of a “robust, healthy Internet: open, secure, trustworthy and inclusive of all”, and what can be done to achieve this.

Act now to make sure libraries are included in your country’s national development plans for the SDGs!!

The inclusion of libraries and access to information in national and regional development plans will contribute to meeting the global United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In support of this goal, IFLA has today published a booklet of examples and recommendations for policymakers demonstrating the contribution of libraries to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is also a supporting 2-page handout.

view/download the publications
The booklet includes stories from all types of libraries in from many countries around the world.

The IFLA Strategic Plan 2016-2021 is now available online in all seven IFLA languages. With this Strategic Plan the IFLA Governing Board sets out IFLA's strategic directions and goals for 2016-2021.

Where all professional groups of IFLA remain responsible for their own strategic planning (i.e. Action Plans), the Strategic Plan 2016-2021 is to guide the governance and the entire activities of the IFLA organisation, based on the following four Strategic Directions:

Libraries in Society
Information and Knowledge
Cultural Heritage
Capacity Building

The Strategic Plan 2016-2021 was endorsed by the IFLA Governing Board at its December 2015.